The primary form of communication between Amblyomma maculatum adults is through pheromones males use to attract females. To perceive these pheromones as well as to locate hosts A. maculatum, like most ixodid ticks, use a special sensory organ called a Haller’s organ. This organ has many tiny sensory receptors and is used to perceive chemical signals given off by potential hosts.
Communication Channels: tactile ; chemical
Other Communication Modes: pheromones
Perception Channels: visual ; polarized light ; chemical
Amblyomma maculatum does not have any conservation status.
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: no special status
State of Michigan List: no special status
Amblyomma maculatum is a three host tick. The tick starts life as a larva that parasitizes small birds and then molts into its nymph stage that parasitizes small ground mammals. Finally the tick once again molts into its final adult stage which is sexually active and parasitizes larger mammals.
Development - Life Cycle: metamorphosis
The most likely economic damage that Amblyomma maculatum potentially causes are its vectoring of various diseases like Rickettsia parkeri, and Hepatozoon americanum. These diseases can affect people’s ability to work, produce goods, and take time and money to treat. Amblyomma maculatum, a common cattle parasite, can irritate the cows on which they feed.
Negative Impacts: injures humans (causes disease in humans , carries human disease); causes or carries domestic animal disease
There are no documented economic advantages of Amblyomma maculatum.
The biggest impact Amblyomma maculatum ticks have on ecosystems is through their parasitic relationships with ground dwelling birds, small mammals, and large ungulates such as cows. Through the parasitism of such organisms A. maculatum can both lower the overall wellness of its host through blood drinking or by playing a role as a host and vector for various pathogenic parasites like Hepatozoon americanum.
Ecosystem Impact: parasite
Species Used as Host:
Commensal/Parasitic Species:
Adult Ambylomma maculatum are parasitic blood feeders and can be found on a wide range of animals. They are moderately host specific and can be found on species of Equidae, Canidae, and Bovidae though they usually prefer larger ungulates. Larval and nymph instars of the tick also suck the blood of their hosts. The larval stage attaches mainly to ground dwelling birds while the nymphs prefer smaller mammals. Humans can be parasitized by this tick.
Animal Foods: blood
Primary Diet: carnivore (Sanguivore )
Ambylomma maculatum can be found over a fairly wide area in the western hemisphere and is considered to be Neotropical and Nearctic. In the United States where it is heavily prevalent they are mainly found in the southern states surrounding the Gulf Coast from Texas to Florida and even up the eastern coast line. This distribution has lead to the tick’s common name of “Gulf Coast tick”. Ambylomma maculutum can also be found in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, Columbia, Venezuela, and Ecuador though there is a lack of precise data for exactly where in these countries the ticks are most predominant.
Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native ); neotropical (Native )
Adult Amblyomma maculatum spend their time either on the skin of their hosts sucking their blood or on the ground in areas of vegetation. These hosts are fairly non-specific and can include members of the families Equidae, Canidae, and Bovidae as well as some small birds. The tick lives in areas with shrub vegetation and since it is vulnerable to desiccation in areas that do not have enough humidity or too much wind they seek out sheltered areas with good shade cover and relatively high amounts of humidity.
Habitat Regions: temperate ; tropical ; terrestrial
Terrestrial Biomes: forest
The specific life span of Amblyomma maculatum is unknown.
Adult Amblyomma maculatum varies slightly by gender. Both sexes of the tick have flat eyes and spurs on their fourth coxa that do not quite reach the anus’ level. They also contain a single external spur and an indistinct internal spur on the first coxa. The males have a complete marginal groove between their antennas which the females lack but the females have a glabrous notum but males do not. A comma shaped spiracular plate is seen in both sexes along with a caudal process of the plate which is about half the size of the last festoon. Both the male and female A. maculatum have palpal femurs that double the length of their palpal genu and have chitinous tubercles on the back side of the festoons. While these tubercles are present they are fairly minute and are completely missing on the central festoon. The second to fourth tibia of the ticks have spines and the basis capituli contain laterally produced auriculae and ventral processes. The baisis capituli in these ticks is also fairly straight but contains convex margins in the postero-lateral area.
The larvae of the A. maculatum have broad oval bodies which are widest around the posterior and middle. Covering their bodies are several different pairs of sensilla. For instance, there have four pairs of sensilla sagittiformia as well as several pairs of sensilla hastiformia and sensilla auriformia. The larvae also have many different setae such as the two central dorsal setae, eight pairs of marginal dorsal setae, three pairs of sterna setae, four pre-marginal setae, five marginal ventral setae, one pair of anal setae, and two pre-anal setae. In addition, the A. maculatum larvae have eleven festoons. The cervical grooves on the larvae are nearly parallel but are shallow and extend beyond mid-length before diverging on the larvae’s posterior. The eyes are flat and the first coxa bears a triangular spur while the second and third coxa bear rounded ones. When un-engorged, a sample of these larvae averaged a length of 0.559 mm and an average width of 0.473 mm.
Other Physical Features: ectothermic ; heterothermic ; bilateral symmetry
Sexual Dimorphism: sexes colored or patterned differently; sexes shaped differently
There is no known specific predators on Amblyomma maculatum.
There is not much known about the specific way Amblyomma maculatum mates except that the males of the species use pheromones to attract the females for mating on a host. Based off of general ixodid tick behavior, however, it can be assumed that the males and females mate with many partners and that the process probably uses the mouth parts of the male to transfer sperm to the female via a spermatophor.
Mating System: polygynandrous (promiscuous)
In the genus Amblyomma, a female prepares for reproduction by partially engorging herself and then slowing her feeding rate until mating. Mating occurs through the transfer of a spermataphore from the male to the female via the male’s mouth parts and the female’s vagina. Males can mate multiple times, even with the same female. Once a female has she quickly finishes engorging herself to full capacity and drops off the host in order to lay its eggs. The number of eggs depends on the size of the blood meal inside the female. Normally, large Amblyomma species can produce anywhere from 15,000 to 23,000 eggs at a time. Egg production in A. maculatum follows a circadian rhythm. After egg laying the female, like most ixodid tick females, likely dies.
Key Reproductive Features: semelparous ; seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; fertilization (Internal ); oviparous
There isn’t much information specific to the parental investment of Amblyomma maculatum but as a general trend for most of the other ixodid ticks there is no parental investment after the eggs are laid.
Parental Investment: pre-fertilization (Protecting: Female)
The Gulf Coast Tick (Amblyomma maculatum) is a Nearctic and Neotropical hard tick found in coastal areas of the southern United States, with inland range extensions in Kansas, Oklahoma, and some other states. It is also found in parts of several Central and South American countries that border the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea, including Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, Colombia, Venezuela, and some parts of Ecuador and Peru. (Sumner et al. 2007 and references therein) Larvae and nymphs feed on small rodents and ground-swelling birds. Adults primarily feed on the ears of large mammals and are considered an economic pest of cattle. (H.R. Williams et al., Texas A&M Tick Research Laboratory)
Rickettsia parkeri, a member of the spotted fever group rickettsiae, was initially identified in Gulf Coast ticks in 1937. In 2004, the first confirmed human infection with R. parkeri was reported. Since that report, confirmed cases of R. parkeri rickettsiosis have been identified in other persons in Mississippi, Virginia, and possibly other U.S. states. Investigations by Sumner et al. (2007) detected R. parkeri in ticks from Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and South Carolina, suggesting that A. maculatum may be responsible for additional cases of R. parkeri rickettsiosis throughout much of its U.S. range. It appears that in the United States R. parkeri can be found anywhere that A. maculatum ticks are found. Another Amblyomma species, A. triste, has been implicated as a likely vector of R. parkeri in Uruguay (Sumner et al. 2007 and references therein)
Amblyomma maculatum (Gulf Coast tick) is a species of tick in the genus Amblyomma. Immatures usually infest small mammals and birds that dwell on the ground; cotton rats may be particularly favored hosts.[1] Some recorded hosts include:
In 2013, the infectious agent of American tick bite fever, Rickettsia parkeri was detected in a female A. maculatum collected at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, near Smyrna, Delaware, providing the first evidence of association of this pathogen of humans with this species of tick in the state.[10]
Amblyomma maculatum (Gulf Coast tick) is a species of tick in the genus Amblyomma. Immatures usually infest small mammals and birds that dwell on the ground; cotton rats may be particularly favored hosts. Some recorded hosts include:
Geothlypis trichas Cardinalis cardinalis Passerina ciris Sialia sialis Thryothorus ludovicianus Troglodytes aedon Zonotrichia albicollis Dog (Canis lupus familiaris) Dama dama Human (Homo sapiens) Eastern woodrat (Neotoma floridana) Odocoileus virginianus Marsh rice rat (Oryzomys palustris) Cotton mouse (Peromyscus gossypinus) Hispid cotton rat (Sigmodon hispidus) Pig (Sus scrofa) Sylvilagus palustrisIn 2013, the infectious agent of American tick bite fever, Rickettsia parkeri was detected in a female A. maculatum collected at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, near Smyrna, Delaware, providing the first evidence of association of this pathogen of humans with this species of tick in the state.
